Caleb Johnson waves to the enormous crowd as he arrives back in Asheville, North Carolina over the weekend, as part of American Idol‘s Home Town Visits.

The 23-year-old American Idol finalist spoke to Citizen Times about the parade thrown in his honor.

“That was epic. That was so epic. … I was like calling people out by name and stuff as I saw them. It was so overwhelming but it was so amazing. I mean, I was on Cloud Nine. … I was seeing people that I haven’t seen in five, six months or even a year, some people that had went away and just came back just to see me. And I’m like, wow, that is so humbling,” he shared.

Caleb continued, “I literally almost got emotional, and then I was like, man I can’t do that…It was nuts. It was absolutely incredible…I can’t even describe what was going through my head in those minutes going down that street. I mean felt like I was president of the United States or something. It was so awesome I will never, ever forget this day, ever.”